Professional Power of Attorney Services
Power of Attorney (POA) Support for Property and Personal Care
We Assume the Risk and Responsibility
Meet Jill Chambers, Founder and President of Financial Concierge™. Learn why Powers of Attorney for property and personal care are important and how to choose the best representative.
About Our POA Services
Powers of Attorney refer to legal documents - one for property and one for personal care. They direct who will make decisions on your behalf (referred to as an "Attorney" who is not a lawyer), when you no longer can or lose mental capacity.
“Attorneys” are decision makers not caregivers. There are different types of POAs. For example, there are Limited POAs that end at a specific time or when a specific task is completed, Springing POAs, effective only at the time of mental incapacity, and others that are effective while mentally capable and transition at time of mental incapacity.
Note: POA for property and personal care can be called different things depending on the province you live in.
We offer three Power of Attorneys (POA) Services for busy professionals, families and older adults:
- Appointed Attorney – Acting as the appointed Attorney we support our clients to manage financial and/or healthcare matters when they no longer can.
- Agent of Attorney – We support the appointed Attorney, usually a family member or friend, as their agent to perform POA duties that require expertise or significant time, and coach them on tasks they choose to perform themselves.
- Appointed as Attorney – We are appointed by the court as Attorney when an individual requires health care decisions with no one appointed to do so.
Note, we offer Attorney services for personal care only if we are also engaged to do work under our Executor and/or POA for property services.
Which One Describes You?
A well chosen Attorney assumes responsibility for your health care and financial affairs when an illness or injury occurs, and in certain other circumstances. Do any of the following situations apply to you?
Busy Professional
You're a busy professional.
Busy Family with Aging Parents
You're a busy family.
Older Adult Aging in Place
You're an older adult.
You’re looking for help to make your life work!
Life as you know it can change in an instant because of an illness or injury. When suddenly faced with physical or mental capacity challenges, clear instructions about your financial and health care wishes and who should represent you is critical if you want to maintain quality of life on your terms.
Should you lose capacity without POAs in place, the courts decide what happens to you!
Whatever your situation, getting help to manage your health care and/or financial affairs requires appointing an individual you can trust.
Generally, family members or friends are appointed as Attorneys, but this may not always be the best choice. What if they are too busy, or don’t have the skills to perform the required tasks? What if you don’t have family or friends to appoint?
Consider these required skills when choosing an Attorney:
- Good Communicator – ability to provide consistent, timely communication and offer regular updates
- Financial Acumen – adept at understanding financial matters related to household finances, investments, tax, and insurance
- Highly Organized – ability to organize payment schedules for bills and deposits, manage caregiver schedules and payments, organize and file documents
- Collaborator – good at engaging the family and professionals like accountants, lawyers, advisors and healthcare providers, when making important decisions
- Resilient – ability to think clearly in times of stress and make decisions under pressure
- Detail Oriented – proficient at documenting in detail discussions and tasks performed, a key requirement for the attorney role
How we can help
We're an Alternative to Appointing Family or Friends
Attorneys (individuals operating under a POA), help clients manage their household finances or caregiver providers for a living. As a neutral third party, Professional Attorneys can help avoid family conflict and safeguard against fraud or financial abuse.
Our Services in a Nutshell:
Below are the primary services we perform when acting as an Attorney for property and personal care:
Attorney for Property
- Daily money management, banking activities like cheque deposits, bill payments, account reconciliation
- Insurance claims submissions
- Liaise with investment advisors, accountant, lawyer, pension and insurance advisors
- Tax return document preparation
Attorney for Personal Care
- Make decisions about medical care
- Make decisions about housing needs
- Hire and manage any care providers required to ensure home safety and health care needs
- Manage payments to providers
- Communicate and collaborate with family and doctors
Family Playbook™
A roadmap for your family and Attorney that houses all your personal and financial documents in one place.
Advantages of Professional POA Services
Whoever you choose as your Attorney, you are assigning someone to make really important decisions on your behalf. If you choose the wrong person it could lead to mismanagement of your finances, property or potentially financial abuse.
Some key advantages of choosing a Professional Attorney:
As a neutral third party, a professional attorney can navigate challenging family dynamics and achieve positive outcomes while focusing on what is best for the client and their situation.
An Attorney understands they are a fiduciary representing only the client’s interests and are accountable by law for their actions. Although hard to believe, often family members acting as Attorneys, commit fraud and financial abuse against their older parents.
Lives in the client’s province of residence, which is important as legislation in different provinces can affect the validity of POAs.
Usually has a strong network of providers who offer other needed services like accountants, lawyers, financial advisors, downsizing, in-home care, occupational therapists etc.
Highly experienced in managing daily financial and health care matters, professional attorneys know how to efficiently assume responsibility for their clients’ affairs and use their strong project management skills to ensure a smooth transition.
An effective navigator of healthcare providers and strong communicator with financial advisors and professionals, they are persistent in representing the client’s wishes and finding them the best solutions.
As the client’s representative while living, they are proficient at transitioning from Attorney to Executor role, or passing the baton to a different Executor.
Professional attorneys know how to make good decisons under pressure, because they have the background and experience liaising with professional advisors and health care providers.
As a neutral third party, a professional attorney can navigate challenging family dynamics and achieve positive outcomes while focusing on what is best for the client and their situation.
An Attorney understands they are a fiduciary representing only the client’s interests and are accountable by law for their actions. Although hard to believe, often family members acting as Attorneys, commit fraud and financial abuse against their older parents.
Lives in the client’s province of residence, which is important as legislation in different provinces can affect the validity of POAs.
Usually has a strong network of providers who offer other needed services like accountants, lawyers, financial advisors, downsizing, in-home care, occupational therapists etc.
Highly experienced in managing daily financial and health care matters, professional attorneys know how to efficiently assume responsibility for their clients’ affairs and use their strong project management skills to ensure a smooth transition.
An effective navigator of healthcare providers and strong communicator with financial advisors and professionals, they are persistent in representing the client’s wishes and finding them the best solutions.
As the client’s representative while living, they are proficient at transitioning from Attorney to Executor role, or passing the baton to a different Executor.
Professional attorneys know how to make good decisons under pressure, because they have the background and experience liaising with professional advisors and health care providers.
The Financial Concierge™ Advantage
At Financial Concierge our passionate, dedicated team provides our clients with personalized, efficient and timely Power of Attorney services. As Professional Attorneys, we offer value by:
- Earning Trust – We strive to earn trust placing our fiduciary responsibility at the centre of our work to represent our clients’ best interests.
- Frequent Communication – We provide frequent updates to all stakeholders and know how to handle conflicts, influence outcomes and facilitate discussions with family and providers.
- Compassion – We know asking for help is not easy for many, especially vulnerable older adults. We bring our hearts and minds to the job and connect with our clients’ needs empathetically, and listen to their family’s concerns to truly understand what’s important in making care decisions.
- Diverse Team – We’ve built a powerful, diverse team that supports one another in delivering the best client experience. Team backgrounds include experience in – accounting, financial service, bookkeeping, estate planning and administration, business coaching, project management, nursing and human resources.
- Affordable Option – We charge a competitive hourly rate for our professional POA services. And although it may appear to be more expensive than family or friends, it’s important to consider the cost of potential mishandling of finances or fraud and abuse.
— Ingrid Bergman
Connect With Us
As a fiduciary, the Financial Concierge™ team holds a position of trust with our clients. We specialize in providing professional executor services and estate administration support.
You can get in touch with us by going to our Contact Us page and using our Contact Us form. We look forward to connecting with you!